In my first meetings with a new client, it’s not uncommon for them to express their apprehension that I’m going to *take away something they love.* A “bad behavior” like eating gluten, enjoying dairy, dessert, coffee etc.
I’m not in the business of depriving folx of foods they love. I AM in the business of helping others to understand the impact that the foods they eat have on their bodies – from a nutritional and bioenergetic standpoint; how those foods impact their deep state of well-being, their digestive health and thus, their performance. This is precisely why I WILL always discourage them from eating fresh fruits with other foods.
That’s right; drink coffee if you wish. Eat sugar, gluten, dairy, and meat as much as you wish. But please please, for your health, stop eating fresh fruits with other foods!
I know it’s hard to do. I was once there myself. But figuring out that The Chia Jam was a work-around saved me; a way to enjoy fruits without any of the digestive consequences.
Contrary to the beliefs of the poorly informed, Ayurveda is not a medicine interested in restriction of any kind. While there are ancient texts that lay out the ways that the science of life works, and while there is an abundance of information about how to eat in harmony with our innate state of being, and with nature, there are no hard and fast rules about foods that are “good” or “bad.” There are, however, rules about how eat to optimize digestive health — which is to say health at large because we aren’t what we eat, we are what we DIGEST.
Herein lies the Ayurvedic wisdom about food combining – the idea that some foods digest well together while others do not – and it is an essential part of understanding how to eat properly, just as discovering one’s constitution and state of imbalance is important for one’s Ayurvedic self-discovery.
Careful food combining can dramatically improve the quality of digestion, support the body in receiving a deeper level of nourishment, and positively impact our overall health. However, most people in the modern world are accustomed to eating several foods that do not usually digest well together (like fruit with nuts, or beans with cheese.)
Why does it matter? The Ayurvedic perspective on diet is that each food has a distinct combination of tastes and energies—and a corresponding effect on both the digestive system and on the body as a whole. Combining foods with radically different energetics can overwhelm the digestive fire (agni) and can cause indigestion, fermentation, gas, bloating, and the creation of toxins. The trickle down effect is that proper food combining can save us a lot of strife, discomfort, and disease in our bodies and lives.
One of the cardinal guidelines of food combining is the treatment of fruit. Because fruit is so high in fructose and liquid, when it meets the acid in the stomach it starts to break down immediately, and quickly. Other foods – such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates take far longer to breakdown. The very “cooked” fruit mingles with the less “cooked” other foods, and begins to ferment. Fermented foods are great for our health when we’re controlling the culture. But we have no control over the culture present in the fruit rotting in our digestive systems, and this is where problems start to arise.
You wouldn’t want a piece of fruit rotting in your house, in the garbage can, or in your lunchbox would you? But eating fresh fruit with other foods is just like this – a surefire way to have a decomposing little pile of blueberries, or a banana, or whathaveyou, hanging out in your body, mucking things up. Icky.
Yep. That’s exactly what it means. Fresh fruit and milk are one of the most disastrous combinations.
Bananas or fresh apples with peanut butter too.
Adding fruit to your protein smoothie in the morning – same.
Grapes in the chicken salad.
Fresh raspberries in your yogurt parfait.
I could go on.
To be clear, you CAN eat fruits whenever you want. But, if you want to stop the bloating, gas, indigestion, inconsistent bowels, skin issues, funny rashes and other seemingly small little inconsistencies with your health you will want to cut this practice out.
And, instead, enjoy fruit as a snack on it’s own. Allow for at least 1 hour between eating fruit and other, slower to digest foods (proteins, fats, and complex carbs.)
The exception to the fruit rule is simple: FRESH fruits are the primary culprits because they’re loaded with moisture and sugar. But, if we cook down that moisture and reduce that sugar – precooking the fruit before your digestive system gets a go at it – then we significantly reduce (if not eliminate) the digestive distress that arises from poorly combined fruits with foods. And this is where The Chia Jam comes in.
My love of fruit slathered on toast and in porridge is so substantial, I came up with this quick jam hack to keep it in my life and I’m not going to lie – it’s pretty genius. Simply cook the fruit until it breaks down, add a bit of salt and lemon juice to catalyze the reaction, then add chia and spices to make this a more balanced addition to your meals. Et voila – you’ll barely miss fresh fruit at all.
…is one of the staples in my pantry all year round. I love this recipe because it’s truly so so quick to make (I’ll throw some fruit in a pot with a pinch of salt when I wake up, I walk away and dive into my morning, only to return 10 minutes later to lovely fruit scents and a little jam ready for my enjoyment. I also love the recipe because there’s no sugar added, making it a solid stand-in for conventional jam and jelly. Lastly, it finishes a meal in a way that fresh fruit just…can’t. Eating uncooked berries in my cereal now just feels uncivilized. Unconsidered. Cold and abrasive. But juicy cooked fruit is like a sweet little luxury – the Parisian finishing touch on an outfit, the pinch of flaked salt on a chocolate chip cookie, the little flourish that every dish craves (and every healthy digestive system desires.)
The recipe below acts more as a blueprint than a recipe. You can employ any kind of fruit you wish, fresh or frozen, and mix up the spices and flavors to suit your fancy. Some of my favorite combinations are:
My advice? Pick a fruit you love and play with the flavors of spices and other additions. Make it your own award winning jam; you’ll be revolutionizing and upgrading your breakfasts all at once.
Where to use your gorgeous jam after you’ve whipped up a batch? Anywhere you’d use jam or fresh fruit. Some places mine pops up:
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